ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:CARLO ANCELOTTI will not beg for the chance to retain his position as Chelsea manager when he attends a meeting with the club's hierarchy next week and will merely accept the board's decision if, as anticipated, he is relieved of his duties after two years at Stamford Bridge.
The Italian will take charge of what is likely to be his final game at Everton tomorrow with his team virtually guaranteed to finish in second place in the Premier League.
He anticipates speaking to the club, most likely the chief executive, Ron Gourlay, and the chairman, Bruce Buck, rather than the owner, Roman Abramovich, next week.
Yet he will not go into that meeting intent on fighting his corner.
“We will arrange a meeting to discuss our issues but I’m very quiet, very calm, and I just want to wait and see what the club have decided,” he said.
“I continue to have a fantastic relationship with Ron Gourlay and Bruce Buck. I had a meeting with Bruce Buck today (at an end-of-season barbecue) with no problem. I’m not ‘desperate’ to keep this job.
“My desire is to stay here because I feel happy here but it’s not my decision. I won’t beg. I don’t want to ‘fight’ to keep my job.
“That’s just my character – I don’t know if it’s a weakness or not. But the club have to judge me over the two years of my job. If they think that my job was good for this club, I will stay. If they think that it was not so good, I will have to go.
“When I started my experience here in England, if someone had told me that we would win the FA Cup and the Premier League in the next two years, I would have been happy.
“This year was not so good, I know, but we can learn from this experience. If they decide to change, you won’t see me crying. I will accept the decision and find another solution.”
Guardian Service
